Shiva Vase by Ettore Sottsass for BD Barcelona Design

The Shiva Vase is sculpture and vase. It is a symbol of Ettore Sottsass and an icon. Sottsass designed the Shiva Vase when travelling to Barcelona for love in 1973. He encountered many cultures, religious symbolism, and inspiration on his travels. The smooth, curving body references the Hindu god Shiva, who was often represented by a phallic ‘Lingam’ devotional sculpture. It has a clean symmetry with its bright colour playing across the form with a brilliant glaze. The Shiva vases are ‘small architectures... like little monuments’, creating energy wherever placed.